The City of Cape Town has been granted R20.8-million from the National Disaster Management Centre to mitigate the effect of the ongoing drought, Mayor Patricia de Lille said on Wednesday.
The National Department of Cooperative Governance said the funds should solely be used for emergency relief such as the drilling of boreholes and the installation of pumps, De Lille said in a statement.
“We are extremely grateful to the department for this contribution and thank them for coming on board to assist us with this very important task to supplement our water supplies.”
She said a “number of tenders” will be advertised over the next few weeks which will ensure water supply in a bid to avoid acute water shortages.
Cape Town is facing its worst drought in 100 years with current winter rainfall well below expectation. On Monday, the city’s storage dam levels were at 32.5% compared to 57.9% for the same period in 2016.
On Thursday, De Lille announced that the city planned to produce an extra 500 Ml of water through a mix of desalination plants, ground water extraction, and water reuse to ensure that the metropolitan does not run out of water.